Partners
by P.A.R
Summary: Orion Black and Charly Misser. Two Unspeakables. A night on the town. What could happen? Plenty.


A/N: So, you ask, where's this story I've been promising?

Well, guys, its like this. As you well know, Fanfiction.net decided last Mahnth to ditch one of its ratings categories. Suffice to say (because that's all you're going to get out of me) I've been a little busy depleting disk space on my floppies.

So, while we're all still waiting, I decided to offer up the following as a peace offering to my readers.

To put this in context for you, chronologically or otherwise, this takes place shortly after the events in Book One, it is as Canon as it needs to be, and there is not one, count 'em, not ONE recognizable character in this story. (Oh, all right, you'll recognize the Deatheaters as a group.) Past that, it's totally OC.

It's also purely for fun. Borders on PWP. No muggles were hurt in the writing of this story. And so far nobody dies. 

So why the heck read it? Well, you're bored, you have nothing better to do this Sunday afternoon, and I would gratefully appreciate your insightful reviews? Sure, there's all that. But there's also the fact that this story is giving you a short, brief glimpse of one of my rapidly emerging favorite characters (go figure). The often mentioned, yet never yet physically seen older brother of Sirius, Orion Black.

The story will also put you one step ahead of the game on Enemies in that it introduces you to likely the most enigmatic partners in the Unspeakables, Orion Black and Charly Misser.

Also, so I won't get questions about it, ''SO.K.' is a perfectly good word! It's one of those P.A.R. words. Like 'Y'all'. ''SO.K.' is 'It's O.K..'. 'SO.K.?

Also, we're going to try experimenting with a new format for Q&A. We'll see how it works. I hope you like it. 

Enjoy.

Disclaimer: All characters of the Harry Potter series (hereafter known as 'legal property') are the sole ownership of J.K. Rowling (hereafter known as 'owner of said legal property'). No infringement on any copyright of owner of said legal property of the legal property is knowing intended. Published by author (hereafter known as 'other') for entertainment purposes only. No monetary or personal gain was knowingly made by other with the publication of this story, which was based on ideas and characters created by owner of said legal property as they pertain to legal property. No plagiarism of legal property or of any ideas of the owner of said legal property was knowingly intended by other. This statement is fully transferable and is legally held binding for the story Partners as it is presented.

****

PARTNERS

Orion Black walked into the small pub behind his partner, Charly Misser, carefully surveying the area around them.

Black and Misser had been best friends since either of them could remember. Orion always joked that they met at the hospital in the nursery the day they were born. They had practically grown up together and both looked forward to a long, uninterrupted friendship. 

Orion, being raised in a wizarding household and knowing about muggle born witches and wizards, lived in the hope that his best friend would be one such wizard. And so never telling Charly the truth about himself, Orion had still always kept a close watch on his friend, certain Charly simply had to be a wizard and was just a late developer. But when Orion turned eleven, his letter of acceptance into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry arrived.

Charly's didn't.

Orion waited a full week before going to tell Charly the news, certain Charly's letter was simply delayed somewhere. The two had always planned to attend school together. Orion had been certain that school would be Hogwarts.

Through a great many choked back tears, Orion explained to his friend that his dad had gotten a letter telling him that Orion had been accepted into the school his father had gone to. As was the story his parents had given him, Orion told Charly it was a type of exclusive military academy. Something that, anyone knowing Orion's father, could easily believe.

And so at the start of the school year the two friends said goodbye until the holidays. Orion's father had thought quite certainly that the bond between the two boys would go the way of most adolescent friendships. Orion was off to a whole new life. He would make new friends, as would Charly, and they would soon forget each other.

But the friendship didn't fade or even diminish slightly. The two stayed in touch throughout their school years. In Orion's fifth year, having brought home nothing but glowing reports and excellent scores, he convinced his parents to let him tell Charly the truth about their family, swearing he would do a memory charm on Charly himself if the boy said so much as a word to anyone.

As one would expect, at first Charly was skeptical of the story Orion told him. But one wand and a few spells later, the two were quickly plotting their way through a extra special summer holiday with Orion's newly confessed skills. All of which unfortunately were brought to a halt when Orion's father presented his son with the warning that arrived early that morning reminding him of the restrictions on doing magic outside of school. 

When the two graduated, they quickly hooked up again and rented a flat together in London. Charly had quickly gotten a job working for the local police branch, and soon managed to get his friend working there as well. The two advanced themselves quickly and were soon working undercover on the streets for the upper level detectives who saw a great deal of potential in the two young men for that type of work.

The two lived as much as muggles as wizards. Orion had worked out ways to allow Charly to tap off of his own magical ability through a series a colored stones that he enchanted, each to perform a certain task. All Charly had to do was speak a spell characterized to respond to his voice, and the spell was activated. Orion had even managed to get Charly a wand. When Charly had inquired how he was able to make a wand work, since as a muggle he had no innate magical ability for the wand to draw off of, Orion had explained that the wand was, in fact, his, and that the wand drew off of his magic. That Charly was just sort of 'the trigger'. But when Charly had pursued the matter of if his wand was Orion's, whose wand was Orion using, the wizard quickly changed the subject. 

And as much as Charly used magic, so did he teach Orion how to do things 'the muggle way'. Orion soon became an expert with most types of guns and could drive a car better than most racers.

Life for the two was everything they had hoped for and more.

But soon Orion began telling Charly about a rising power in his world. A dark evil that was threatening the wizarding community. The picture Orion painted became bleaker by the day until finally one day Orion had come home and told Charly that he had been approached by members of his own law enforcement. A group called the Ministry of Magic, who had offered Orion a job as an Auror. 

Having lived half in the wizarding world for so many years, Charly quickly expressed as much of an interest in protecting his adopted community as Orion did. And so with a lot of finagling and bargaining and steadfast refusal to join the Auror's without his muggle partner, Charly Misser became the first muggle to every be employed by the Ministry of Magic. A decision Charly made sure the Ministry never regretted. 

During the war, the two quickly became the best known and most feared Auror's to the Deatheaters. The last thing the Deatheaters ever expected was a muggle fighting beside a wizard. After the war and Voldemort apparent defeat, Orion and Charly were approached to join a newly formed branch of the Ministry. The Department of the Mysteries, to be employed as Unspeakables. A job they were currently employed in as they entered the pub.

Just inside the door, Charly disappeared to one side while Orion, keeping his eyes fixed on six men seated at a back booth, continued to head straight for it. He didn't need to know where his partner was going. The two could read each other by as little as a glance. Wherever Charly was off to, Orion was certain his back was well covered.

Still, this had to be the pits. He was in a pub, and he wasn't drinking. 

Well, easy enough to fix.

Orion sidetracked to the bar.

"Scotch." He told the bartender as he leaned on the counter. "And try to make it older than me."

The bartender looked the man over a second time. He had caught sight of the two when they had first come in and could recognize trouble quickly enough. It seemed to be a second nature to bartenders. But these two were not only acting the part, they were dressed for it as well. The first man, the one who had disappeared so quickly, had been dressed right enough with a pull over black, long sleeve turtle neck shirt with a leather jacket over it and black pants and boots. He had had brownish hair with a tinge of orange coloring to it fashioned in a very stylish cut. The only non-disreputable thing about him the bartender could pick out was, much like his friend, he was clean shaven. But past that the tall, lean man simply looked like trouble. 

The second man, the one now standing at the bar waiting for his drink, looked even more the part. Dressed similarly to his companion, the only difference was that the man at the bar wore a long, black leather duster that nearly came to the floor over his equally tall, lean body. And unlike his friend, his jet black hair fell nearly to his waist at a point. The same clean-shaven face looked perhaps a bit older, and, whereas the other man's was a bit rounder, this one's was cut with solid, angular lines. Perhaps that was what made him look older than his friend.

Several women in the pub were still looking the newcomer over when the bartender handed him his drink.

"Now look here." The bartender stated as firmly as he could. "I run a good clean establishment. I don't want no trouble."

Orion gave the man a genuine smile. "Do I look like trouble?" He asked, heading back towards the main area of the room.

"With a flippin' capital 'T'." The bartender replied under his breath as he watched the man walk away.

Orion continued his trek to the back booth as he quickly scanned for his partner. Charly was currently chatting up a very attractive young woman off to his left. But Orion's partner cast a quick glance in his direction as Orion continued through the sparse crowd, letting him know he was aware of his every move without so much as a nod.

Taking a long draw off his scotch, Orion casually made his way to the back booth where the six men were stuffed tightly together, all whispering quietly between themselves. But the conversation came to an abrupt halt as Orion stopped at the booth and leaned over the end of the table. Reaching into his duster's pocket, he quickly produced a small card and quickly flashed it at all the men in the booth.

"Ministry, D's." Orion announced softly, flashing a smile at the men, not one of whom returned it. "Now with all these nice muggles about, how about for a change, we do this quietly? I mean, we wouldn't want them to see anything inappropriate, would we?"

The man closest to him turned a sneer to the man leaning over him. "Deatheaters aren't afraid of being seen, mugblood. Go crawl back in your hole."

Orion turned an astonished look to the man. "Not afraid of being seen? Merlin's Beard, you must be fun at parties! Tell me one thing? Do you sell tickets, or is it a free show? Are there more than two? Is it audience participation? Oh, wait." Orion stopped abruptly. "I said one thing, right? Well, I guess you'll have to come down to the department and answer the other questions, hey? I got a lot more, just so you know."

Another one of the men in the booth leaned over his companion. "Bugger off." He stated fiercely. "This is a private party."

Orion quickly pulled his card out again. "But I have my invitation."

"Bugger. Off." The man replied. "There's no law against having a drink with your mates. You Unspeakables are out of bounds here. So go take your little partner and find a nice alley somewhere."

Orion furrowed his brow at the man. "Now that's just rude!" He stated. "Besides, I'm not interested in what you lads are doing tonight. I'm more interested in what you were doing three night ago." Orion gave the men a searching look. "Can you remember back that far?" He asked earnestly.

"Bugger! Off!" The man repeated. "Or it's going to get messy."

Orion stood back up and surveyed the men in the booth again. "Well, lets see. It looks like one...two...three...four....five....six to two." He quickly counted off. "Are you sure you wouldn't want to go find a few more lads first? Even things up a bit for your side?"

One of the men got suddenly to his feet. But the other man at the end of the booth stopped him with a hand on his arm.

"Sit down, mate." He stated decisively. "He's tryin' to goad you into something." The man turned his stare to Orion. "He knows he ain't got nothin' on us. Just six lads out havin' a drink. Nothin' wrong with that."

"Six lads?" Orion asked. "Are you sure?" Orion pointed to the man who had stood up. "His voice sounds a bit high." He quickly turned his smile to the man sitting next to the other. "Or maybe we just all need to keep our hands on the table, hey?"

Charly wasn't sure what started the spells flying. But not five minutes after he watched his partner start engaging the Deatheaters in conversation, start flying they did. The girl he had been chatting up let out a scream along with half the muggles in the small pub as a rush started for the doors.

Having been partnered with Orion Black for longer than he cared to remember sometimes, Charly knew the man's MO well enough. Go in, stir things up, grab what you can, and get out, get lectured by your superiors the next morning for bad conduct.

Charly sighed to himself as he pulled out a small blue, clear stone. 'SSDD.' He told himself. 

Charly closed his hand about the stone and spoke a few quick words. Almost instantly a spray of blue light streaked out through his fingers. It shot outwards and wrapped itself around the interior of the building. Instantly the stampeding crowd vanished, silently transported to safety somewhere far away from the little pub with no memory of having been there. Most would only remember they were heading home from a night out, figuring they had had a bit too much, while others would continue on with their plans for the evening without any knowledge of any interruption. 

"Black!" Charly called over the crashing of glass bottles and glasses as his partner furiously fought off the six Deatheaters intently trying to make an example of him.

Charly already had a table tilted against the fired spells and, as soon as Orion came flying feet first over the barrier, cast a quick deflection spell around it .

"We've been fingered, haven't we?" He asked mildly, a large 357 resting in his lap.

"Like a debutante in the coat room at her coming out party, mate."

"What did you say to them this time?"

"Nothing!" Orion replied intently. "Why do you always assume I said something to upset them?"

"What did you say?" Charly repeated mildly.

"I just made a suggestion! Was that so bad!?"

Charly shook his head as he continued sliding bullets into the chamber. "Depends? Which one of them did you suggest go shag his sister?"

Orion watched Charly loading the second 357. "Nothing so crude. Hurry up, will you!?"

Charly snapped the chamber shut and handed one of the guns to Orion.

"You know, they really get pissed when we do this." He added.

"'SO.K.. I have a contingency plan." Orion informed him seriously.

"Really?"

"If it comes to that, I'm just going to tell them it was all your idea."

"Oh! Nice! And if I get out of this alive, I'm going to think of something really rude to tell your mum about you."

"Really?" Orion asked enthusiastically. "Are you going to tell her about the time you tried to snog me in the closet at last years Christmas party? Oh, wait!" Orion paused suddenly, looking thoughtful for a moment. "Never mind. Already told her that one myself."

"Bloody git." Charly replied. He did a last quick check of his weapon before turning back to his partner. "Ready?" He asked.

Orion gave a quick nod.

On the silent cue, both men suddenly stood up from behind the splintered barrier and rapidly unloaded both chambers. 

Several loud screams along with an equal number of rude remarks echoed through the dust and debris.

As soon as the chambers were empty, both men quickly ducked back behind the barrier.

"All right," Orion stated, "your turn to check."

Charly turned to his partner. "What was the last thing you told them?"

Orion shrugged. "I told one of them I'd already shagged his sister."

Charly sighed to himself again as he shook his head. "I wish you'd quite telling them that."

"Just get up there!" Orion hissed at him.

With one last, dutiful sigh, Charly turned around and stood up in plain view from behind the table.

"And she wasn't that good either." He yelled into the settling dust.

A few seconds later, Orion joined his partner.

"Nothing?"

"I don't even think they're breathing." Charly replied, stepping around the barrier.

Carefully picking their way through the dust, debris, and splintered wood, Orion and Charly made their way over to where the Deatheaters had been sitting.

A few feet out from the table, three of the men laid prone on the floor, not making a move. Charly quickly disarmed each of them as Orion continued the search. He found another one of the Deatheaters laying face up near the door to the rear exit. Two eyes blinked up at him as the man fought with everything in his to move his limbs, but to no avail. The bind spell each bullet carried held him fast.

"Now you see," Orion stated, crouching next to the man, "this is what comes from trying to leave the party too soon."

Standing up, he took the man's wand, and moved on.

The last two they found still in the booth, completely unconscious, wands still clutched tightly in their hands.

"You know," Orion stated as he leaned against the remains of the booth as Charly disarmed the last two Deatheaters, "someday you're going to slip up and put real bullets in those guns instead of those enchanted ones."

Charly shrugged. "Same results...sort of. 'Sides, gives us a wonderful edge. I mean, D's are expecting us to be firing wands, right? Not 357's."

"Well, the day the Department heads get wind of it, I'm disavowing any knowledge." Orion replied, handing the gun back to his partner.

"Won't happen." Charly replied. "The bullets leave the same magical signature as a spell fired from a wand. Nothing to find."

"I hope so, mate. So, what can we do while we're waiting for the clean-up boys?" Orion asked. Looking about the pub his gaze fell on several unbroken bottles on the shelf behind the bar. "Look! Free booze!" He declared happily, making a beeline for the bottles.

Charly shook his head with a slight smile as he followed his overly-eager partner, slipping both guns back into their arm holsters under his leather jacket.

Maybe later he could catch up with the bird he'd been chatting up.

Q&A (Yah!)

(See, P.A.R. makes a little rhyme again.)

The Bonds That Tie

dw: I'm very pleased you liked the story, Dear. And the only thing I have ever been able to say in relation to your request for actual published books was as close to danger as I am willing to flirt right now, which is that my pen name are the initials of the name under which I wrote professionally.

Tried and Convicted

ChloeLupin or Guenivere Weasley: Actually, I am JK Rowling undercover. And the reason Book Five is late is because I've spent the last year writing fanfictions instead. Yes, I am now giving away for free what made me only slightly less rich than the Queen.

Right!

I appreciate the compliment, Dear, but no, I'm just P.A.R..

Karla (*****): You really scared me there, Dear, I must say. But no, I was actually aware that Fanfiction.Net was going to ditch the Harry Potter Authors fiction stories listing. I never really did understand that category myself.

And as you well know by now, everything turned out just fine. P.A.R. may borrow JK's toys, but she plays nice with them.

No soul? Well, I've been accused of worse. Oh! And by the way, that's why you love me? Because I have no soul?

I'm glad you are enjoying the gold star. I think you and Unicorn Whisperer are in some sort of race for those things. And see, P.A.R. is acknowledging you as a five star reviewer now.

Digi Bonds: Well, in a way they did remove the Harry Potter category. It's just that it was the Author Fanfiction Harry Potter stories category that they removed. And that one never did make much sense to me anyway. 

Ohhhhhh! I'm on your 'favorites' list!? Thank you!

lilahp: Well, the good news is, P.A.R. did figure out how to access her e-mail again. Better news is that I did get your e-mails finally.

I did get the information on the hp2003 convention and the link worked perfectly. Thank you.

I have considered posting at Fanfiction Alley. And I probably will soon. It's just a matter of finding the time to post something up there.

Now, I don't remember anything about any update on Book Five, the director of Goblet of Fire, or the adult height of Mr. Radcliffe. Maybe I only got one of those e-mails. But at this point we all know the 'scheduled' release for Book Five is Summer 2003, and Mr. Radcliffe's adult height will never be reached anyway because the producers for Harry Potter are feeding him cigarettes like candy to stunt his growth. But I would like to hear again about the director for GoF. I would also like to hear from anyone who has heard anything about who got cast in the third movie for Sirius Black. I mean SURELY they must have cast the part by now! And I did hear sadly that Mr. Radcliffe has mentioned he does not think he will do all seven movies.

Ah, well. I thought the one I did get was quite amazing! Thank you!

Well, I can understand how any mother might feel about anything attacking their child. But give the poor Demetor a break. He did get attacked by a large, black, extremely angry dog with lots of teeth involved.

A knock down, drag out fight between Snape and Sirius? I'm sorry. Currently my Sirius is far to dignified to result to such actions. But anything's possible.

I haven't thought of doing a story about where Remus was while Harry was growing up yet. But again, anything's possible.

The only thing meaner than a Demetor is a Ministry of Magic (MOM)? (Just kidding. Boy! I would never want to be on your bad side!)

I think all Dementors need a long, long time-out.

I'll see if I can get to your story. Unfortunately P.A.R. is not very organized (she has gotten better, folks) and while she was making all those promises along the way to review stories, she neglected to write them down. So my list got a lot shorter. And again I would urge people that if I mentioned trying to review a story and I have not as yet (yes, Whisp, I know) please REMIND me. I'm not ignoring you. I just forgot.

Yes indeed! No one knows the meaning of the word 'wait' quite like an HP fan. As a matter of fact, I looked the word up in the dictionary. Under 'wait' it said 'See HP Fans'. Yes, we know the meaning of the word!

Meesta. Happy Java Mahn: Heeeeeeeeey, Mahn! Oh, we are very 'appy you reviewed. Yes, Mahn! We not get many chances to practice de accent. 

Oh, Mahn. School? I thought you be out of de school, Mahn. You say you have de job thing going on.

9C? Oh, Mahn! Dat ees much cold, Mahn. I think in Florida et be in de 90's.

Oh, no can enjoy de Red Strip beer. Dat's to bad, Mahn. Oh well. Still. Smile! Be 'appy. Mahn. In four months (three?) go get youself de Red Strip beer, Mahn. Yah beer!

Rats! Mahn, you be waiting a while to see de sequal to de Family Life story. P.A.R. be way behind on dis right now. P.A.R. say to just be calling her 'Rowling'.

____________: Unfortunately, you did not put in a name, so I do not know who you are. Although from your review I could make several well educated guesses.

I also have no idea what the Harry Potter Author fanfictions section was about. I started off reading in that category and quickly moved to the main category.

My father is much improved. We now have trouble keeping up with him. Last Mahnth he made me stop cutting the grass for him because he wanted to start doing it again.

sweets: Oh! That's what that category was about! O.K.! Sometimes answering these in reverse order doesn't quite work, or I'd have come across yours ages before I answered the others.

I did not think Fanfiction.Net was crazy enough to ditch their largest category and thereby their biggest draw to the site.

SIrius couldn't really do any damage to the Dementor? Had he grabbed something other than robe mnaterial, Dear, the Dementor would have been doggy biscuits. Not very good ones, but still.....

Yes, I also know about the Skin So Soft legend. And I have found it does work. The stuff is just a bugger to shower off.

Sleep? You sleep?

Nicky: *Sigh.* Every time I end a story, inevitably some one finds points they think I left hanging. That's how this story got written to begin with.

Actually, the resolution to the issue of what is Sirius going to do now that he knows Snape is/was a Deatheater was touched on in the chapter. Sirius knows that Dumbledore trusts Snape, or he wouldn't be working at Hogwarts. And Sirius figures Dumbledore knows what he's doing. But that's not to say he wouldn't keep his eye on the man.

As to a Snape/Sirius story, I never thought of doing one before. I guess because I see the dynamics between the two so limited. They hate each other. End of story. But that's not to say I would never consider doing one. It's just not in my plans right now. And yes, you are right that a lot of what went on between Snape and the Marauders will be covered in my Snape/Lupin story, Proper Friends.

I hope you enjoyed 'the next story'.

Me: Your mom has an interesting vocabulary.

Dear, it's an AU. I know J.K.R. wrote Snape as a nasty character. But Dear, there are twisted, sick people in the world who find that appealing. We call them writers. Some times the nastiest characters make the best characters. And since it is an AU, well....we all know where that one's going.

Harry's lack of good vocabulary skills is a special treat for Remus. You'll note he almost never does it when he's with anyone else.

If you like a good, nasty, really in character, but below the superficial surface Snape, I highly recommend Never Alone, Never Again, by Bored Beyond Belief. It's well worth the read.

Darned right! Who needs needles to draw blood?

Lets see. The reviews was more than three lines long? That WAS a long review, Dear. Thank you.

Silverfox: No, no, Dear! That was carefully laid out! The fact that the Dementor went after Harry was NOT random. Look at the scene again. Everyone else in the room at the time was either agitated, confused, or scared. Harry was 'happy'. Who would the Dementor logically go after?

Sirius didn't 'run off to tell Dumbledore' that he had a Deatheater working for him because he figured Dumbledore already knew. I thought I made that clearer in the last chapter, but apparently not. Bad P.A.R..

Austria?!!! Ohhhhhhh, P.A.R. loves Austria. Very pretty. Nice mountains.

Zimmy Russell: Hey, Zim.

No, Dear, lots of people play Proud To Be An American. Wore the grooves right off the track around my area after 9-11.

Whisp! Stop kicking Zim! 

Ohhhh! Thanks for the referrals on the stories. I just point people in the direction of your authors page. All your stories are so very well written.

Yes, COS on WB was very good.

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! I am not the ONLY person who thinks Lucius and Legolas are related!

Eva Phoenix Potter: *Pulls out copy of Fanfiction Writers Handbook. Points to page.* Chapter Twelve, Paragraph three, subsection 19, line three. 'Any writer is allowed to write cliffhangers provided they serve a purpose and stay in context with the plot thus far.'

See!

Sorry. Tried and Convicted is not planned to be sequeled. That does not mean that I won't be using these characters in this setting again. It just would be an individual story unto itself and not necessarily connected to Tried and Convicted. Did that make sense?

Mayleesa: How did I know you like cliffies? That was easy, Dear! EVERYBODY likes cliffies!

So glad you got to stay in your body.

purple water: Yes, I am the first person to admit that the Q&A at the beginning of the story had problems.

I once had someone tell me that in editing yourself, the line you love the most is probably the first one you should throw out. I believe the 'spell/potion' line falls into this category.

Well, apparently the Remus et al coming in to 'save the day' wasn't obvious to too many people.

I think the fact that Harry and Sirius are, more or less, the main characters of the story, can pretty much assure you that they are going to make it to the end of my stories. That and I hate killing off characters that don't belong to me.

Sirius was very careful with Harry when he attacked the Dementor. As stated in the chapter, he made sure Harry was under his chin before he bit down.

I don't know about everybody liking 'happily ever after'. But P.A.R. does.

I didn't take your review as a flame. However, I think I could have placed you as a technical writer from your reviews. They are extremely concise. I understand that that is how most technical writing is done.

Sailor Sol: So glad you liked the ending. Unfortunately Enemies is a bit delayed. But I did put up a peace offering. I hope you liked it.

LauraBlade: You REVIEW, Dear. That's the point. Look at it this way. The other day I checked my hits, now running at about 17,500 total. Then I checked my review totals, which came in at about 1,100. YOU do the math on that one! (How many people are reviewing as opposed to how many people are reading.) So, you reviewed. I'm happy.

As for the piece you were going to send me, my e-mail is working now. par @fanfiction.net.

Arania: As for a dog going after the Dementor instead of a Patronus? Go with your strength I say. Which is just what Sirius did.

Arabella is an OC. She appeared in Family Life and will also play a part in the sequels, Family Relations and Family Ties.

My stories run about 50-50 on the 'normal plotline' thing. Some are canon. Some are not.

Nagini: Sorry, Nagini. P.A.R. has to work. Slows down the stories some times.

Whisp!

Hey! Just a minute! When have any of my stories NOT had happy ending? Huh? Huh!!!!!?

P.A.R. likes Loff.

I'm just curious enough to ask. Was that thing MARKETED as a Sirius plushie? How can they be doing that?

Ummmmm.....O.K., Enemies is NEXT. I swear!

Brighid: Personally, I think any review is a good review. So, thank you.

RavenLady: Just made that October promise, didn't I?

Storyspindler: Yeah, yeah. A likely story!

Anyway, glad you liked the ending. You want a tissue-grabbing story? Go read Fever or The Bonds That Tie.

Tarawyn: Well, at least I wasn't overly subtle in what was going on in the beginning. I kind of wondered about that. But most people caught right on to it.

Boy! Have you got perspective on Snape. More than most. But he is, overall, a very complicated character, which makes him loads of fun to write about.

The relationship between Snape and Remus goes a lot deeper in my stories than what you are seeing on the top layer. But that's the foundation of Proper Friends, which I hope to get out one day.

I deserve to be worshipped? Great! I always wanted to be worshipped.

Sirius is just good for anguish, as is Remus.

What is Snape doing in the photo? Haven't you ever taken a picture, gotten it developed, and discovered a lot of people in the background you didn't notice when you took the picture? That's all it was. Snape just happened to be walking behind them when the picture was taken. And why was he there? Well, keep in mind, he and Remus were friends during school. So it's not really that strange.

Harry's use of 'colorful' language is sort of a running joke in my Baby Harry stories. Some people like it. Others do not.

As for people's reactions, yes, Snape does think Remus' stairs aren't quite reaching the attic. And Remus is just being Remus. As for Sirius, you have to keep in mind that in this story he didn't spend twelve years in Azkaban. So, no, he's not going to act like a teetering lunatic.

I always spelled it Deatheater. But I suppose either is good.

Snape's actions when motivated by a request from Remus can really go either way. It really does depend on how Snape is feeling that day and how Remus presents himself. As a friend, or an enemy. If he's alone, Snape usually sees a friend. If he's with Sirius, Snape sees two enemies.

Glad you liked the chapter ending.

Actually, 'trial' is one of those problem words for me.

Indeed, people are much less guarded when they are angry.

Sirius' problem isn't so much that he's depressed as that he's giving up. He sees no point in fighting because he believes he murdered James and Lily and he thinks he should be punished for it.

What happened to Chapter Six?

Sirius isn't allergic to Veritaserum. He's only allergic to one of the ingredients. He can take it, but he'll get extremely ill from it.

You're putting off homework for this? I'm honored.

Thanks for the kind words about my description. My editor always thought that was my weakest point.

I liked your start of the review for chapter nine. That was cute.

Yes indeed, the potion used on Sirius was a very nasty potion. In the wrong hands it could do a lot of damage, which is sort of what this story is about.

I'm very glad you liked the ending.

As for Fanfiction.Net, I can't say in all honesty I disagree with their decision. I think they could have explored other options and given more warning of their decision to drop the NC17 rating category. But all in all, I have to applaud their action, and I know I am in the minority here. But Harry Potter was started as a book for children. I think as Fanfiction writers we have an obligation to the original Authoress, for being allowed to use her work freely, to honor the spirit in which she created this wonderful series. I am all for freedom of speech. I am also for responsible actions.

Jennifer Potter: First off, I would like to point out that you are one of the reasons for the changing format of my Q&A. Re-reading some of them, as well as reading answers to my own reviews on other stories, I realized just how confusing it can be to read only answers with no idea what the question was. So I am trying now to incorporate as much of the original question into the answer as I can.

And as to your other comment, I will simply say I leave it up to the reader if that was intentional or not.

Siriusly Bored 

knight hunter: I'm glad you liked the dog fight. And so very pleased I gave you a good chuckle.

mo: So very glad you liked it.

Family Life

Arania: *P.A.R. looks over reviews. Looks at the date. Looks at the Chapter numbers.* P.A.R. is SERIOUSLY impressed. You read this whole thing in one day? STARTING at night? Don't you SLEEP?

I am so impressed.

And reviewing!

I am so very, very, very impressed!

So few people caught the 'I'm really more of a dog person.' line.

Arabella is a favorite OC of the Authoress to be sure.

If 'why did she give him that?' you are referring to the Pensive? Mostly because he didn't have one and Arabella was just looking for things to give him. I mean, for fourteen years she hasn't been able to give him a present. Now she can give him anything she wants. She's bound to go a little overboard.

Romance is good.

Actually, the running joke throughout the story was that Harry was always walking in on them.

A Turbolift move? I like that!

Yes, Dear. Forty-nine is a lot. 

Wait a minute! You went from 13 to 49 and nothing happened you felt you could comment on? Awwwww, man! P.A.R. was looking for some really good long reviews to read.

___________: Again, no name. But as to the Soap/Soup item. Yes, it has been mentioned before I think. I've just never gotten around to correcting it. Maybe someday.

Very cute, the last comment.

Celtic Ember: Ohhhhhhh! Another person who has beaten that nasty sleep habit!

Anyway, I think you did review the first time, Dear. I recognize the name. May have also been a different story.

Anyway, thank you! The greatest compliment is someone willingly re-reading your story. Thank you again.

Oh, by the way, twenty-eight was a lousy chapter to stop on. I would have suggested at least going on to the next one.

Wouldn't You Like To Know: My summaries are disturbing, Dear? I'm sorry. I'll try to write less disturbing ones in the future. Something with a little less math involved?

This story was not at anyone's request. I wrote this story because I was writers blocked on my current novel and this was a way to work through it. Now it's just sort of for fun.

Me: I hope I've given you something else to read now, Dear. Not that I am not absolutely honored that you are re-reading my story.

Wow! One year later and someone FINALLY caught that! Yes, Sirius' name is Sirius Orion Black. Three guess what his brother's full name is. And the first two don't count. The reason is given in the sequel. It's lame, but sort of a little inside joke for the story. However, I did never realize Sirius' initials spelled out S.O.B.. That was certainly not intentional.

A Dog's Day

Elizabeth Bathory: Oh dear. Someone was not reading the Author's Notes or the Q&A in that story. 

The question of Harry's actual age and developmental skills was a BIG issue in The Bonds That Tie. In fact, I took a lot of flack for it. However, due to a reader coming to my rescue, an explanation was given for why Harry wasn't 'acting his age'. And yes, he should have been two. I made his age more like nineteen months though. It was an AU, after all.

Nice catch.

Reviews are as of 10272002. If I missed you, I do apologize. It has been a long time and I have to page through the reviews of several stories.


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